‘Tomorrow is not the end’, says Harris over vote on EU-Mercosur trade deal

Ireland grappled with the decision to vote against the EU-Mercosur trade agreement, Ireland’s deputy premier has said.

Tanaiste Simon Harris said that while assurances were secured, they were not enough to address all concerns raised by Ireland.

He said Irish farmers and consumers had “strong” views on the deal.

The EU is to vote on Friday on the trade deal with the Mercosur countries of Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay.

It has been opposed by the Irish Farmers’ Association and has also seen internal disagreement within Government, including with independents who supported the formation of the coalition.

The Irish Government confirmed on Thursday that it would not vote for the deal in its current form, which was welcomed by the IFA, the Labour Party and Independent Ireland.

Mr Harris said the Government has been engaging with like-minded countries that share Irish concerns, particularly in relation to standards and fairness.

He said farmers and consumers had concerns about the deal, including environmental and food standard concerns, and it was not just a rural issue.

“It is now clear that the agreement, even as modified or even with the additional safeguards, is not adequate enough to address the concerns of Irish farmers and of the Irish agrifood sector,” he said outside Government Buildings in Dublin on Thursday.

“We rightly hold our farmers and our food standards to a very high level in this country, to very stringent standards, and it’s important that parity exists here, and that parity simply wouldn’t exist under the Mercosur agreement.”

Despite reports that the agreement is set to be ratified in the vote of the European Council on Friday, Mr Harris said it would also need to be ratified by the European Parliament.

“I think the system would want to be very careful in taking for granted the views of the democratically elected representatives of citizens here in Ireland and right across the European Union, who will have to have their say on this as well.”

He added: “Tomorrow is not the end of the matter.

“The decision-making process will also necessitate, quite rightly, that the European Parliament has its say as well, and that work will continue, and there will be an opportunity for Irish MEPs, and MEPs right across the EU, to continue to engage, grapple and give their verdict.”

He said he had spoken with Fine Gael MEPs on Thursday and discussed how to “maximise” safeguards if the EU-Mercosur deal is passed.

Asked how Ireland’s position would affect its stance in the European Union, Mr Harris said Ireland did “grapple intensively” with the issue but ultimately had to “stand by our word”.

“We are a collection of individual member states with national governments, national priorities, national viewpoints, and I think that always needs to be respected,” he said.

“Ireland is a country that instinctively values trade. We value free trade. We’re a country that benefits from free trade.

“That’s why we really did grapple intensively with this issue to see if it was possible to get to a point that could address the legitimate concerns of Irish farmers, the Irish island food sector, and that simply hasn’t happened, and therefore we need to stand by our word and oppose the agreement in its current form.”

Minister of State Sean Canney said “nobody had threatened they were going to walk from government”.

He said that the negotiations had led to greater safeguards but said the issues in relation to food production by Irish farmers “has not been what it should be”.

“We just could not support it on that basis, in terms of the environment, in terms of food safety, and also the viability of farming in Ireland.

“This is a Government decision, not an independent decision,” he added.

Asked about reports that independent ministers supporting the government had threatened to walk, he said: “You’d hear reports that people will do this that and the other.

“I can categorically state that nobody had threatened that they were going to walk from government on this issue.

“We had robust exchanges in terms of what we should be doing over the last year, not just yesterday or last night.”

Asked whether the government would be voting against the deal if the independent were not in government with it, he said: “When we were doing the negotiations this time last year, it was very much to the forefront of everybody’s mind, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, that we had to do something about Mercosur because in the form it was in it was not acceptable to Ireland.”

Asked what repercussions this would mean for Ireland, Mr Canney said: “I would say if you spend your life like that saying ‘I’m afraid of what will happen down the line…’ You make the decision on the day.

“Secondly, I would say, we are a net contributor to the European Union, we’re not a beal bocht (poor mouth). We’re actually contributing to the European Union, we have influence in the European Union.”

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said the Government had “utterly failed to stand up for Ireland’s interests”.

“Their job was to stop Mercosur being introduced and they have massively failed,” she said on X.

“They had multiple opportunities to stop it – they took none of them and now at the eleventh hour they are cynically announcing they will vote against it when it is far too late.

“They sat on their hands when they should have shown leadership. Mercosur is disastrous for Irish farming, food safety and our environment.

“Next week Sinn Fein will bring a motion to the Dail to challenge this government’s failure to stop Mercosur. The fight goes on.”